The Nation - News from July 3, 1988

A jury in Philadelphia that convicted Gary Heidnik of killing two women in his basement torture chamber ordered that he die in the electric chair. Jurors deliberated nearly two hours before choosing death sentences instead of life imprisonment for the two first-degree murder counts on which they convicted Heidnik, 44, on Friday. The panel, chosen in Pittsburgh because of pretrial publicity in his home city, also had convicted Heidnik of kidnaping and rape in the imprisonment of four other women in his Philadelphia row house. His attorney had argued that Heidnik, who has been under treatment for schizophrenia for 25 years, was mentally ill when he committed the crimes between November, 1986, and March, 1987. He will be placed in a state prison.